


The Price of Forgiveness

by Watchfulhours



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Character Death, Forgiveness, Gen, Jerry is not an OC, Monsters, Religous references, Violence, WIP, aftermath of large battles, faith issues, lotsa religious references, magic and magical realism[slightly], myths and legends, retribution and penance, some PTSD issues, urban fairytales of a kind, yadadada cannot think up anymore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-12
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-19 06:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watchfulhours/pseuds/Watchfulhours
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jerry is a university student, or a concert pianist, or apparently a private investigator specializing in paranormal activity. Needless to say he's a bit of an odd duck who has a tendency to show up in even odder places. Even so peculiarity shouldn't be enough to tag a person on several government watch lists. The fact that it does is peculiar in and of itself, and, to one government agency that prides itself on it's excellent intel gathering skills, slightly worrying.</p><p>As Phil Coulson is tasked to chip away at the mystery and, dare I say it, multiple facades of the man that is Jerry Barton, it becomes alarmingly clear that there is more then one threat at hand, and that the world has, for quite some time, played to host to a rather alarming amount of remarkable beings. Some who are not so well disposed towards humans.</p><p>In which SHIELD is new and has no credibility whatsoever, dark forces play chess with our minds and if this keeps up Phil Coulson may never get that last vintage trading card and complete his set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price of Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a number of works that I cannot ever begin to compete with nor remember the names of, and is written for the enjoyment of myself and hopefully others

The man had once been humanoid, but some force had warped his limbs beyond recognition, and burnt his face to charred slag. He hung, suspended a good foot from the grimy floor, although no chains bound him in place. There was no need for them, as the entirety of his lower torso was melded into the wall until it looked like he was a figure come alive from some horror etched in stone.

Man To Be looked at The Man Who Was, and felt something akin to pity for the creature, who, despite the horrific deformities inflicted upon his personage, was still breathing and, Man To Be was sure, still aware. 

Man To Be set down his burden, the red canvas cloth somehow luminous in the dreary gloom of the cave, or maybe it was the object inside, and hunkered down beside it, making himself as comfortable as he could be on a floor that had obviously played toilet to multitudes of small furry creatures of some kind. Fastidiously, even though he knew he could claim no right to the emotion, he wrinkled his nose, and focused his senses on the dull roar of the waterfall reverberating even this far down in the earth until he was ready to speak.

And then, at last, he did, in a voice that echoed off the cavern walls although it was barely above a whisper. "Old one, I seek your guidance".

-your guidance

The silence was indefinite, and achingly heavy with a charged tension that came with the meeting of two cardinals. Old, and quite familiar. At last, with a groan that was painfully audible, The Man Who Was lifted it's-his- head from the resting place on his blackened chest, and Man To Be stared into the eyes of perhaps one of the oldest beings left that had survived the Incursion. Or, the black, ragged holes where his eyes used to be, and Man To Be studiously avoided looking at the floor in case the remnants- in an unlikely bid for immortality- were still there.

The Man Who Was's lips curled into a blood red smile, even as his chest gave a rattling groan of protest as he drew breath to speak. "What have you come to seek", he asked, in a voice that was startling reminiscent of dry dust beneath fig trees. Man To Be blinked at that moment of clear memory, before it slipped away and was forgotten.

"I have come to seek penance", Man To Be replied, the response slipping easily from his lips.

"And do you k-know" the being coughed, a deep, rattling bark that seemed to rend the twisted deformity that was his chest, "What you have come to seek penance for?"

Man To Be frowned at this, a slight creasing of his forehead as he thought. "I-I don't know", he said, a rather alarming conclusion, "Is it relevant?"

The Man Who Was ignored that and barked a deep, rattling chuckle. "As it should be", he said, almost to himself, "As it should be".


End file.
